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Fox Business makes TV debut

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NEW YORK -- The business-news battle brewing over the past couple of years became joined in earnest Monday with the official launch of Fox Business.

The much-anticipated network lifted off with the first telecast of “Business Morning” at 5 a.m. ET then segued into “Money for Breakfast,” the news and interview show anchored by Alexis Glick and Peter Barnes.

“It’s very exciting to see it become a reality,” Glick said of the channel that she helped found behind the scenes as vp business news.

“We had about 130 weeks of rehearsals,” Barnes said. “Or it felt like that,” Glick added.

Making guest appearances on the first day were presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney, celebrity businesspeople Oscar de la Hoya and Tony Hawk, and former CNBC contributor Eric Bolling.

The battle between Fox Business and CNBC was never really far from the surface in the channel’s first day. A Fox Business reporter did early morning standups from Englewood Cliffs, N.J., where CNBC is based. And the network did an early afternoon report on Jay Leno’s future with NBC and whether he really wants to leave “The Tonight Show.”

For its part, CNBC didn’t ignore the competition. CNBC duly covered Fox Business’ Glick and Kevin Magee ringing the Nasdaq bell -- complete with the Fox Business logo in the righthand corner of the screen. And CNBC’s ads ran in local avails on Fox Business in Time Warner Cable’s New York market, reminding viewers who turned out for the channel’s first day who the competition was. Bloomberg TV apparently ignored Fox Business’ Nasdaq appearance.